I can hardly believe that I am writing about the day that I have dreamt of and waited for, for so many years! For those of you who know me, you know that I am a true romantic and was pretty much born into this world dreaming of my wedding day. Well luckily for me, God has blessed me with the most wonderful man who I’ve known for a while was “the one”. And this special “one” knows me so well, that he knew just how to go about planning for this day (for an entire semester) and pulling it off successfully and perfectly!

Matt told me he wanted to go on a date with me the first Saturday of our Thanksgiving break. It made sense because it had been 3 weeks since we had last seen each other; so why wouldn’t he want to take me out right? He told me to make sure I brought a dress home with me, because he wanted to dress up and go to a nice, surprise, dinner. I loved the sound of that! A night with my man, getting to wear a dress, and being fed good food! What could be better? (“A ring perhaps” I thought. But didn’t think it was actually possible. As far as I knew Matt had not been home all semester long, which meant he had not been able to ask my parent’s permission for my hand in marriage NOR did he have a chance to order my ring). I tried to push any hopes of an engagement out of my mind and reminded myself that he was just being sweet and thoughtful.

So just like he asked, I packed a dress for my trip home; but ended up buying a new one with my mom at the mall the next day (even better)! When Friday night rolled around, Matt called me and said he wanted to pick me up at 10:30am the next morning so we could spend the whole day together. I had been expecting to not get to see him until Saturday evening, because as far as I knew, he arrived home in Nokesville Friday night and would spend the first part of the day with his family on Saturday. So although I was shocked, I gladly agreed to go on an all day adventure with him! He mentioned that his mom suggested we go to Barrel Oak Winery for the first part of the day; his parents had been there before and said it was beautiful. Matt and I love experiencing different, “cultural” things so although neither of us particularly liked wine, we thought it sounded great!

On Saturday morning Matt arrived at my house in the morning as planned, and we spent a little bit of time catching up with my whole family (Megan and Michael were in town). Shortly after 11am, we packed up my fancy dinner clothes to take to his house, and set out for our adventure! The winery was about an hours drive west. It was beautiful despite the initial overcast clouds. The winery is only 2 years old and still has the smell of new wood, and the look of a fresh log cabin. We explored the building before beginning our wine tasting, and walked around the property and outdoor courtyard. Our wine tasting consisted of 13 different wines; half red, half whites. Matt and I liked a few of the lighter, sweeter whites, and Matt suggested we purchase a bottle to “remember the day.” I remember wondering why he would want to remember the day? But I pushed the thought out of my mind ;). After our wine tasting, we spent some time by an outdoor fire pit socializing with people and taking in the beautiful, crisp fall day. During our conversation I heard Matt’s phone in his pocket vibrate. I looked over and saw as he pulled it out of his pocket, an alarm he had set was going off. I was wondering why he would need to set an alarm for the day? ::No big deal Heather, it’s just an alarm!:: I tried to reassure myself…

Before we left, Matt wanted to get several pictures of us outside. He said it was because we didn’t have many recent ones of us, which was true. I was thinking maybe he wanted pictures for a creation he was making for a future proposal since Matt is creative and has a history of using pictures of us in gifts. So although his adamant behavior seemed a little strange, I figured getting pictures of us had nothing to do with that particular day. As we got in the car to leave, Matt announced that he had another surprise planned! “What?!” I asked. But of course, he wouldn’t tell me. As we got closer I realized we were driving to the Manassas Battlefield. “Aw, we’re going to the Battlefield!” I said. Then Matt explained that he wanted to get a few more pictures of us at the location where we first had pictures taken as a couple. Then I remembered that sure enough, 3 ½ years ago we were at the Battlefield and had a friend take a few pictures of us together. ::That’s cute:: I thought. ::Hmm could there be more happening at the Battlefield?:: But just as that thought snuck into my mind, his sister Michelle called. I could hear her talking on the other line and telling Matt that her friend left a pair of sweatpants in the back of the car and needed them today. Michelle was on her way to this girl's house and wanted to meet up with us to grab the pants. Surely Matt wouldn’t allow Michelle to interrupt us if he had planned something more then just pictures! Matt generously agreed for her to meet us in the parking lot; I knew then that this was just a fun day that he had planned. ::Relax Heather, relax!::
We got 2 pictures of us at the Battlefield before his camera died. We walked back to the car to get my camera, when his sisters pulled up. I handed them the bag with the sweat pants in it while Matt was getting my camera. Then we talked to Michelle and Kelly for while since I had not seen them since the summer. After about 5 or 10 minutes, they had to leave to go to their friends house, and Matt looked at the time: 3:45pm. We had run out of time to take pictures since we wanted to be back at his house by 4pm to change for dinner (our reservations were at 6pm). Matt asked if it was ok for us just to head back to his house since we had gotten several pictures from the winery. I said it was no big deal and we headed back. ::Ok, this is definitely just a fun date day. We ran out of time to take pictures because we talked to his sisters…if this was anything more, he wouldn’t have allowed us to run out of time::.
We got back to his house and hung out with his parents for a little while. We chatted with them just like normal; they seemed so relaxed and played their part so well! Because of Matt’s parents and sisters, I was totally fooled that nothing was up! We got all dressed up, took a few pictures, and left for dinner at 5:40pm. I knew we had 6:00 reservations, but didn’t know where. ::Where on earth can we get in 20 minutes from Nokesville that is nice and fancy?:: It was pitch black outside, so I didn’t realize where he was taking me until we pulled onto the gravel lane and passed a sign that said “Poplar Springs”. Poplar Springs is a really nice renovated manor home, barn, inn and spa. I had been there with my mom over the summer and Matt remembered how much I liked it and how nice I said it was. Matt thought that as soon as I realized he was taking me there for dinner, I would know that tonight was the night. But for some reason, I didn’t! I had become so convinced throughout the day that it was just a fun date that Matt had put a lot of work into. Matt has taken me to 2 other really fancy restaurants in the past that required we dress up, so this behavior wasn’t completely out of character. He’s also really good at finding fun and creative places to take me to, so again I thought it was just Matt being Matt.
We were seated at what was obviously the best table in the house. It faced a huge stone fireplace that was warm and crackly, and also faced a black grand piano where an older gentleman played beautiful, elegant music in the background. The host took our coats and placed them on the back of a chair at a table near by. It didn’t strike me as odd at the time, but what I didn’t realize was that they marked off the surrounding tables so that we wouldn’t be disturbed and so that our coats would easily be within reach as we walked outside. Dinner was a four course meal; super fancy and delicious! It was such a nice environment that I felt as though I all of a sudden couldn’t remember how to correctly hold my fork. Before dessert, Matt suggested we get our coats on and walk around outside on the courtyard. Again, this was not strange behavior to me. Matt always likes to take in the scenery around him, so I figured that he wanted to let our food settle before we rushed into dessert, and enjoy our night out. We got our coats from the table next to us, and made our way through the den, towards the French doors that led to the courtyard. When I had come to Poplar Springs with my mom over the summer, the courtyard was my favorite part. It was tented at the time and so beautiful! That night the doors were closed, and I hesitated to go out, thinking maybe they didn’t want people out there. Matt assured me it was fine, and looking back I remember him acting a little strange (which I now know was nerves).
We walked out towards the stone steps that led to the courtyard/patio. We were having small talk, remarking about what a beautiful night it was when I tuned into the music being played and realized it was one of our two most special songs – “Look After You” by the Fray. “Baby, that’s our song!” …as I said it, I realized it probably wasn’t a coincident. “Yeah, it is!” Matt said. I all of a sudden starting piecing things together and got nervous not knowing how to act or what to say haha! Then as we stepped down onto the patio, I noticed that all the tables along the parameter had white candles burning on them. I was making some remark about how gorgeous it all looked, when I looked to my left and saw that on one of the tables Matt’s treasure box that he’s had since he was a kid was sitting on a table next to two burning candles. When I first had a tour of the Fischer’s house years ago, Matt showed me his treasure box which he had let me look through. He had put a collection of “treasures” or things that were special to him over the years in it, along with a picture of 3 cute girls from our youth group. I always teased him about that picture because the girls were my friends, yet I wasn’t in his treasure box! He claimed the picture was meaningless and assured me that one day I would make it in the box. Throughout the past several years I’ve often asked him if I was in his box yet? He always reluctantly said no…. But on this night, when I saw it, I knew.
“Babe, your treasure box!!” I ran over to the table getting so excited, knowing what was most likely coming. “Go ahead and open it up Heather, I want to show you something.” I took the lid off the box and saw a stack of pictures on the top that were of the two of us. He told me that they were pictures of us throughout different stages of our relationship. They were in chronological order, and eventually I got to pictures from that very day! I was so astonished and had NO idea how they could have gotten there! Little did I know that when his sisters met up with us earlier that day at the Battlefield, the plan was for Matt to stick the camera’s memory card in the bag with the sweat pants and hand it to his sisters to take and get developed. Well since I was the one who grabbed the bag and handed it to his sisters, Matt had to slip it in Kelly’s pocket without me noticing! They had left and developed the pictures and brought them to Poplar Springs before we got there! The last photo in the stack said “Are you ready to move on to the next stage of our lives?”
“Yes?” I said. Matt then took my hand, had me stand up, and looked me in the eye and said the most precious things to me. Then he got down on his knee, pulled the ring box out of his dress sock (genius) and said “Heather Dawn Worthley, will you marry me?”

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could NOT believe it was finally happening! My ring was perfect, the night was perfect, and he had officially made me the happiest girl on the planet! After much squealing, hugging, laughing, and dancing under the stars, we went back in and had our personalized dessert. The whole staff at Poplar Springs was in on it and everyone in the restaurant quickly caught on and congratulated us. It was a blast! After dessert we went back to Matt’s house where both of our families – and Baby B who helped his boy plan - were waiting for us. Needless to say, it was perfect. It finally happened!

Matt had actually come home a month prior (without my knowledge) while I happened to be home for a wedding. The day that I caught the wedding bouquet, Matt took my parents out to dinner and asked for their permission to have my hand in marriage. Both of our families were in on it and I had no clue! I am so impressed...

So, the first phase of my very own fairytale finally arrived! And it was perfect enough to keep me content until this coming June ;)